Lunge Parry Thrust
by DiscordantSymphony
Summary: The story of a broken, defective Pearl who followed someone who never wanted to fight, the story of doing what's right even when it is futile. the story of the answer, the story of hope. The story of the rebellion. Hiatus, plans for a rewrite due to certain revelations from the show.
1. Chapter 1

Lunge. Parry. Thrust.

Chapter One.

A Pearl's life was one of repetition, do this, do that, stand here and hold this. Look pretty, sing, please me. The details might change but the beats were always the same no matter what, some Pearls she knew found comfort in that certainty, that things always went a certain way but she always hated it. Not that she would ever say such a thing out loud.

Her diamond detested insolence, imperfection. Such things would not be tolerated in this new colony, the newest one she had been put in charge off by the other diamonds. Pink Diamond was the youngest of the diamonds and thus she was the weakest of the great diamond authority, the ultimate power of Homeworld that all gems answered too but she was still a Diamond, an ultimate and perfect life form and no gem would dare defy her.

Pearl sighed as she looked over the figures that were projected from her gem, she was well aware that compared to her sisters she was far better off than many of her sisters, all her Diamond ever asked of her was to do these tasks so she didn't have too, the worst she ever asked for her was to dance for her which was hardly the worst thing her Diamond could do to her.

She still shivered as she though about the stories of what Blue Diamond did to her Pearl.

She had seen her fellow Pearl only once back on Homeworld, the poor thing was subdued even for a Pearl and she had keep her head down and made no noise, not a whimper. Nothing. Nothing to risk angering her diamond.

Pearl knew that all things considered she was lucky, she even had her own chambers which was rare because a Pearl would normally be forced to sleep standing up or at their Gem's feet, but the repetition of her life bothered her. She knew that being a Pearl that being bothered by repetition was something of a flaw and if any Gem knew how she felt then she would be considered defective and the best possible outcome was that she would be shattered.

Pearl shook her head and cleared her thoughts before she shut off her projection, she needed to get these figures to her diamond. She would be punished if she was late.

She walked over to the door of her chambers and it slid upwards, she stepped out into the hallway beyond and began to walk down the crystal passageway of her Diamond's palace. It was a magnificent structure, built on to the side of the mountain and held up by four great pillars. Pearl sometimes looked down to see if she could see the bottom but it was too far down.

Sometimes, she wondered how long a fall it would be to the bottom.

As Pearl made her way through the castle she stopped when she heard grunting from inside her Diamond's personal stadium, Pearl looked down into the stadium and she saw that two quartz solders were battling one another, she couldn't identify there gems from here but they were fighting fiercely, one wield an axe the size of Pearl and the other was using a gigantic mace.

Pearl enjoyed watching the fights, the spars. It was often the best part of her day when she could watch them with Her Diamond, she didn't have to worry about any tasks set out for her she simply had to watch and enjoy the skill on display.

These had none of the skill that she observed in other solders, none of the grace, none of the form. They were simply trying to hit one another, relying only on their brute strength. It was not enjoyable to watch, to say the least.

She shouldn't even be watching, she didn't want to risk her Diamond's anger after all.

She hurried down the corridors and sighed with relief as she saw the doors of her Diamond's throne room loom before her with another four minuites, thrity-two seconds and six milliseconds to spare.

She pushed open the doors and stopped when she saw that her Diamond was not alone as she had expected her to be, there was another quartz solider in front of her but it was not just any quartz solider, with her pink ringlets and unusual form it was almost impossible to mistake Rose Quartz, the general of all their diamonds forces, for any other quartz.

The quartz's form, she had to admit, unsettled her quite a great deal, not that she would ever say such a thing out loud of course, she would never disrespect such a high ranking gem, she would never disrespect any gem. But the form was quite unreal, it was true that almost every gem had a humanoid form but the general had from that looked almost completely human with skin that looked like a great deal of the humans outside.

Pearl didn't know why such a respected Gem would want to look like one of those things out there, they were animals. One time she had seen one of them...eating. It had been a horrifying experience, the way it's teeth had mushed and grinded what it had put into it's mouth and the way it's neck convulsed as the mush was swallowed and then it came back out it, it was an utterly disgusting experience.

Rose Quartz had an angry expression on her face and their Diamond had an expression of barely contained irritation on hers, Pearl realised with horror that they were arguing. Why was this happening, you didn't not question a Diamond's decisions, you did not question her authority, you did not question a Diamond at all about anything. They gave you an order and you were happy to do it.

"My Diamond, please I beg of you. Do not do this, this planet is full of life, it's beautiful! We can't destroy all of that simply to make more solders and gain more resources. Please, the organic ecosystems generates plenty of resources on it's own. If we are careful then we can have a permanent supply, let me go in front of the authority and make my case." Rose Quartz pleaded, her wide eyes begging even while her face remained set in it's fury.

"No." Her Diamond said, her voice almost seeming to make the room shake or was that just Pearl? "This planet will be made into a colony and I will not have you wasting my fellow Diamond's time."

"But my Diamond!" Rose shouted but she was interrupted when Pink Diamond stood from her throne, she was taller than Rose, much taller. So tall in fact that the other Pink gem had to put her head completely back to look up at her.

"Enough! You are my general and I respect you and your tactics but clearly somewhere along the way you have forgotten your self, I am a Diamond and I will not be questioned! You are to leave my sight immediately or I will have you exiled from my palace, is that clear!" The Diamond shouted and Rose Quatz nodded in defeat before she turned and left the throne, only sparing a glance at Pearl and giving her a small, sad smile as she left.

Her Diamond breathed in and out deeply before she sat back down in her chair, she glanced at Pearl and beckoned her forward with a single hand gesture. "Pearl, I trust that you have the figures I asked you to bring me?"

"Yes my Diamond, the Primary Kindergarten is operating at peak efficiency , the beta Kindergarten is working at half the effenicy we expected..." Pearl wasn't really thinking as she rattled off the figures, her projection was doing most of the work for her.

All the while she talked all she could think about, was Rose Quartz.

A gem who had been brave enough to stand up to a Diamond.

End of Chapter One.

* * *

 **Well, here we are. My first Steven Universe fanfic, please be gentle but constructive criticism is more than welcome.**


	2. Chapter 2

Lunge. Parry. Thrust.

Chapter Two.

It was almost an entire solar cycle before Pearl saw Rose Quartz again, Pearl was sitting on a stone bench and was again going through some reports from the kindergartens as well as reports and messages from Homeworld which had come through the newly constructed communication spire, the first of many and a direct line to Homeworld.

Under her breath, she began to hum a song. It wasn't anything special by any means, just a few notes that went well together. She enjoyed singing, whenever her Diamond asked to be entertained she always hoped that she meant that she wanted to sing to her, it wasn't only the thing that she was best at but also the only one of her duties that she truly enjoyed.

It was a mark of what an elite model of Pearl she was, only the fanciest of Pearls could sing as an option, for most gems that were granted a Pearl most of them didn't know how to sing, they were meant for holding things or assisting with low level tasks. If a Pearl could sing than in most cases that meant that it was a singing Pearl, that was its prime function, to provide entertainment.

But Pearl was the Pearl of a diamond, she was special, if her Diamond wanted to hear a song then all she had to do was commanded her to do so and it was done, if her Diamond wanted a companion, something to deal with her stress, to be pleased then Pearl could do it all and more. Some gems had told her she was so lucky, to be able to serve a Diamond, to be so close to one was an honour. There was no greater honour for a Pearl.

But the thing was Pearl did not feel very lucky, not at all.

"That's a very nice song." A sweet and familiar voice spoke, causing Pearl to stop humming and look up, eyes shrinking to dots when she saw Rose Quartz standing there, a gentle smile playing on her lips. "Where did you learn it?"

"General Quartz!" Pearl turning off her hologram projection and stood up from the stone bench and bowed quickly, to show her respect. She knew that her Diamond had sent the Quartz away but she was still a Quartz and the commander of her Diamond's forces, she was due the proper respect. "Forgive me, I did not see you."

"No no, please don't apologise, you didn't do anything wrong." The Quartz gem said with a small smile and a small laugh, causing her pink ringlets to bounce in an almost hypnotising manner. "I only wanted to come over and say hello, I hope I'm not interrupting anything important."

"Nothing that can not wait General, I was simply reviewing reports for my Diamond." As soon as Pearl mentioned their Diamond something odd happened, something flash behind Rose Quartz's eyes that for a moment Pearl wondered if she had actually seen it all but she was sure that she had, there was a deep and dark anger there and it unnerved her.

Rose Quartz was quite infamous among the gem elite, being well know was a guaranteed certainty when you were the commander of a Diamond's forces but Rose wasn't just well know, she was infamous for some...rather unusual ideas, to put it lightly. She always tried to argue for the preservation of the planets that they used for colonies, to try not to disturb any of the local life forms.

It was odd, why such a high ranking gem care so much for organic life forms? She did not mean to question the gem but everyone else did, if she had been a lower ranking gem then she might've been shattered or used in a harvest.

And yet, the Quartz did not care what anyone thought of her, to the point that she would willing argue with their Diamond, the argument they were having when Pearl had walked into the throne room kept replaying in her mind, despite the fact that their Diamond could easily shatter her.

As soon as she had seen the look it faded and Rose smiled, although it seemed a little sad to Pearl. "Reports from the kindergartens? Homeworld? Wanting to know how the colony is coming along?"

"Yes. This is going to be vital colony from what I understand." Pearl said and she realised that she should probably get back to her reports, her Diamond would no doubt want a summery of them. As she did every day.

Rose nodded and walked past Pearl, Pearl thought she had gone and thus sat back down but didn't turn her holographic projection back on when she noticed that Rose had not walked off but was standing at the open window that was streaming in light from the earth's sun, Pearl noticed that it seemed to make her eyes sparkle.

"Do you ever think about it?" Rose asked softly, another sad smile dancing across her lips as she stared at the view from the window, Pearl had looked from that window a few times and she had to admit that the view was quite pleasant, the mountain that castle was built into the side of was high above the ground, there were dozens of smaller mountains surrounding it and waterfalls fell down to the great lake below. "This planet is so beautiful, and they're just going to ruin it all for the sake of a few more resources."

"Well, it has to be done. The authority needs the resources of this world." Pearl said with a delicate shrug of her shoulders, she didn't see the point in getting upset over something that you could not change and Rose Quartz, for all she was respected as a warrior and a strategist would not be able to change the minds of all four diamonds and she would never be able to overturn them.

"But why this world, one full of so much life? Why not a dead world? There are thousands of them that we could build colonies on, why this world?" She muttered sadly, her eyes following a bird the soared in the sky, the sun catching it's brown and white feathers. "Everything about it is so, beautiful."

She sighed heavily and stepped away from the window ledge, she glanced at Pearl and let out an apologetic laugh. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to go on about it. I hope I didn't bore you."

"You didn't. I don't see how you could ever bore anyone." Pearl said quickly and Rose looked taken aback for a moment and Pearl thought for a tense moment that she had offended her somehow but instead the other gem laughed, a snorting like sound that seemed odd coming from a gem that always seemed so poised and graceful, and Pearl was happy that she hadn't offended her.

"So, what do you do when you aren't serving Pink Diamond?" Rose Quartz asked as she sat down next to Pearl, who made sure that she kept her hands close to her body so that she would not accidently touch the Quartz gem, back on homeworld she had once seen a fellow Pearl be shattered where she stood after she had accidently bumped into a Hibonite.

Her fellow Pearl's screams still sometimes sounded in her ears, she had never been more afraid in her life as she watch the brutish gem grab the other Pearl and ripped her gem from her, causing her physical form to disappear from existence, and then crushed the gemstone in her hand and let the pieces fall to the ground.

After all was said and done the Pearl's owner, a Jade, had only been offended that the Hibonite had been so rude in destroying her Pearl and demanded that she order her a new one to replace it, neither of them cared that they had ended another gem's life.

It was then she learned that no other gems considered Pearls real gems, they were servants and that was that.

She realised at that moment that Rose Quartz was staring at her, waiting for an answer to her question. Pearl cleared her throat about her answer for a moment before she answered. "Well, I am always serving my Diamond, that is my purpose as a Pearl. I do not have any spare time to do anything else and even if I did I would only want to do what my Diamond commands of me."

Rose frowned and Pearl wondered what she said that had offended her and wondered all to quickly if what had happened to her sister Pearl was about to happen to her, she let out a sigh of relief however when Rose started to speak again. "Well, there must be something that you like to do? Something that doesn't involve your Diamond?"

Pearl realised at that moment that Rose Quartz had probably never been around many Pearls before, for most Pearl's there life solely revolved around their owner, they didn't know any other way to be, it was what they were designed for. They weren't happy with their lot, some did what they could to change it but there was little to no chance of it ever happening.

Still, the other gem was waiting for a response. "I sometimes like to watch fights in the stadium, and at the Sky Arena, I like how graceful some of the fighters are, especially those who use swords." She said and Rose smiled brightly, her curls bouncing.

"Oh, why didn't you say so!" Rose shouted happily, her gem began to glow pink and she reached out with her before she stopped and pulled it back. "Oh, do you mind?" She asked with a smile.

"If it please you." Pearl said, more than a little surprised that the other gem bothered to ask if it was alright with her before she did it, Rose smile pleased and reached out with her and gently placed it to Pearl's gemstone, Pearl shivered as she felt new information being downloaded directly into her gem, she could see the digits that made it up and she realised that it was program of some sort.

"It's a combat simulator." Rose said as she gently pulled her hand away from her gem. "It's mainly used to train younger gems in swordsman ship, I knew that I had an old copy knocking about somewhere so I thought you might get better use of it."

To say that Pearl was surprised was something of an understatement, she was completely and utterly flabbergasted with what had just happened to her, not only had a Quartz gem, and not just any Quartz gem but a Rose Quartz, and not just any Rose Quartz but the Rose Quartz, given her a gift but it was a gift that would train in her combat apparently. She did not know what to say.

"I don't know what to say." Pearl said and she cursed herself for how stupid that she was being, it wouldn't work no matter what. "But I think it was a bit of waste, Pearls can not fight."

Rose frowned. "Says who?"

"Well..." Pearl paused for a moment as she thought about it for a moment before she continued. "Well, no says it but Pearls just don't fight, we aren't meant for that."

"And who decides what you are meant for?"

Pearl was starting to feel a little frustrated but she knew that she could not get angry, if she yelled at a Quartz then she would be punished by her Diamond and she didn't want that, shattering was not the worst thing that could happen to her after all. "Well...The Diamonds decided that, they have for thousands of years."

"And who decided that they get to decided?" Rose asked with a small smirk.

Pearl opened her mouth to respond but then shut it again, she didn't know who decided that. It's just the way that it all was and no one had ever thought to, at least openly, question it.

No one it seemed, until Rose Quartz.

"Rose!" A voice called from behind Pearl and they both turned to look in time to see a Bismuth and a Ruby approaching, the Bismuth looked a little alarmed about Pearl's presence but she didn't say anything. That thing you told me to look into? It's ready when you're ready to go."

Rose nodded and stood up from the bench and looked down at Pearl, she smiled and there was a hint of sorrow to it. "It looks like I have to go, I hope you will think about what we talked about and-actually, hang on one second." Rose turned to the Bismuth and smiled. "Do you still have that sword you were working on, the lightweight one?"

Bismuth was quite for a moment and raised an eyebrow but after a moment her gem glowed and she pulled out possibly thinnest sword that Pearl had ever seen, it seemed to almost be invisible when it was looked edge on, it did not look like it was capable of slicing into something but it did look like it could pock quite a few holes into something instead. Rose took the sword from Bismuth and held it out towards Pearl. "Here. You have it."

"Rose." The Ruby, her gem located just below her chin, spoke with an anxious expression on her face. "We really do have to get going, now."

"General Quartz, I couldn't I-" Pearl began but she was interrupted by Rose, who chuckled.

"Oh, come on. You need a sword if you're going to use that combat simulator and you should be able to use this one pretty easily. You won't have any difficulty in holding that." Rose said as she placed the sword in Pearl's hands and stepped back with a smile. "Now, I have to get going, I hope that you will try out the combat simulator by the time we speak again."

And just like that she was gone, going down the long corridor like there was a gust of wind carrying her, the Bismuth and the Ruby following after her though the Bismuth did glance back at her for a moment before she followed them.

Pearl glanced down at the sword in her hands for a moment before she stood up and began to make her way deeper into the castle, going the opposite way down the corridor until she arrived in front of the door to her room. The door slid up and she rested the blade against the wall and sat on the floor, crossing her legs and looked at the blade for a few moments.

It was clearly very finely made, that was almost always the case if a Bismuth crafted it and it would be rude for her to turn it away, it was a gift from the Rose Quartz after all.

She stood up and picked up the sword once again and did a few quick thrusts to try and get a feel for it, it was very light so she didn't have any trouble holding it but it was almost too light and at times she thought that a few times it was going to fly out of her hand but it stayed where it was as she learned to tighten her hold on the sword hilt.

She decided she might as well try out the simulator now, her gem glowed and a holographic replication of herself stood before her holding a holographic sword and it began to speak, a harsh and robotic version of her own voice. "Do you wish to engage in combat?!"

"I suppose so." Pearl said with a shrug and then shrieked at the hologram thrust her blade at her and she ducked and she thrust her sword through her hologram's chest. The holo recreation of herself put her arms at her side and spoke again.

"Challenger wins, do you wish to battle again?" The hologram spoke as Pearl got back to her feet, that had been terrifying, how would she explain to her diamond how she had been poofed? How would she explain where she had gotten the sword from?

But despite all of those worries, she had enjoyed ever second of what just happened. Yes, she had been in danger but she hadn't lost. She had managed to save herself even though she had never fought at all in her life. What could she do with proper training?

That decided her answer for her as she drew her sword from the hologram's chest and held it firmly. "Yes, I do!"

"Battle begin!" The hologram shrieked, and then it began.

End of Chapter Two.

* * *

 **Please follow, favourite and review. In case you are wondering yes that was our Bismuth but it wasn't our Ruby, next chapter we're swapping over to Rose's perspective. I hope you'll enjoy it just as much if not more than you enjoyed this one! See ya later!**


	3. Chapter 3

Lunge. Parry. Thrust.

Chapter Three.

Rose walked down the corridor with Ruby and Bismuth following her, it was odd how her thoughts seemed keep drifting back to that Pearl from before, she had simply saw her sitting and wanted to say hello but it had not been her plan to actually get involved in a full length conversation with her.

It had been a pleasant conversation, she had to admit that much. The Pearl had been surprised that Rose wanted to talk to her of course, she was a high ranking gem. The commander of a Diamond's forces and a war hero, that had concurred a thousand worlds and defeated armies in their millions all in the name of the diamonds and for the glory and advancement of Homeworld, of the empire.

She had always wondered why she had to do it, any of it. Couldn't any of them see how beautiful everything was, how precious and in need of protecting it was? If the authority did see then they clearly didn't care much at all and it surprised her how much that hurt to think off. When she had first burst from her kindergarten she remembered how certain she had been, of the diamonds, of her purpose in life.

She didn't need to question it, the Diamonds were perfect. They were perfect beings and their judgement was unquestionable, it was only until later that Rose realised that it wasn't that their judgement was unquestionable, it was that they didn't want their judgement to be questioned.

Of the lot of them Pink Diamond was the most...not the most understanding but the most patient, the fact that Rose had brought these matters to her attention so many times without being shattered was proof enough of that. When she had been sent away on that day she had been concerned that she had lost whatever small influence she had on the diamond which despite being her general was not as much as most of the lesser gems thought.

Still, she had been summoned back to the castle soon enough. She was back in favour, at least for the moment. Rose knew that it was more of a practical reason than for any sentimentality her diamond might have had for her, which was little enough as it was. Rose had been made by her diamond, she was made to be her general, to fight and win wars in her name and she had been so good at that task, she had been made for it.

But now it had all seemed to have faded away and she hadn't under why for the longest time, she had wondered for a time if she had been defective, the thought of it had made her terrified, if she was defected then she would have to be shattered. The diamonds would not tolerate imperfection, not even from one of their own generals and so Rose had said nothing. Simply served as best she could and hoped that whatever flaw she had would rectify itself.

It never did, doubt became her constant companion. Fear as well, they never left her, not even for a moment. And that only made her feel worse, the emotions were simply more flaws. Emotions belonged to the lower species, chemical defects in their brains that the most foolish of them thought made them stronger.

She didn't want to be like them. She wanted to be a Rose Quartz who served her betters without any doubt but try as she might she found that she could not. They were always at the back of her mind, taunting her with her imperfections. She had thought about shattering herself at least once or twice, she might be defective but at least her shards might prove some use to the great purpose of the Diamonds.

But she had held back, not because she had changed her mind in truth but there had been no complaints about her behaviour and so long as she could be useful to her diamond, then that was all that mattered. And any thoughts that were unproductive to the great visions and plans of the Authority were simply to be ignored so she had done so.

And yet, none of them had ever left her. She was just defective, an off colour. It was a shame and yet she couldn't change it.

Her missions carried on as they always did, go and clear out this area of human settlers and then oversee the construction of this kindergarten to make sure that it was carried out accurately and that it would not be disturbed by the locals, it had been a while since Rose had been placed on something as banal as security detail, such a thing would normally be left to an Amethyst or an Agate, not to a Rose Quartz who was the commander of all Pink Diamond's forces.

It was a testament to how nervous her Diamond was about this colony succeeding, she was the youngest of the Diamonds and this had been the first colony that she had been assigned to oversee, no gem would ever think that a Diamond could be nervous but Rose had been sure that she had seen it.

Maybe it was just another part of her defectiveness.

Regardless, Rose had done as she was commanded and cleared out all the human settlements that was ordered too and stood guard over which ever Kindergarten that her Diamond thought was the most likely to be attacked. The humans were never brave enough to mount an assault however and the clearing of their little dwellings were so easy that it had practically been a waste of her time.

They didn't lack for courage when it came to defending themselves, they had fought fiercely each and every time even though it should have been clear to all of them that they had no chance to defeat them, they were armed with sticks with blades tied to the end of them or swords made of bronze and shields made of wood.

Rose cut them down without half even trying, the death of an organic was always messy she had found. Some were smart and wore suits of metal over their soft flesh but they didn't help much in the end, she had enough strength to rip their suits apart piece by piece or crush them till the metal was digging into the soft flesh underneath.

When the creatures were wounded they...leaked, like a pipe would leak coolant. She knew that the organics needed the fluid and if they lost too much then they ceased to function. It seemed to be painful, gems could feel pain, it was installed into them so that they would not take any unnecessary risks that could lead to their gems being shattered or cracked.

And it made sure that they had a healthy fear of their Diamonds, of the pain that they could so easily inflict on to them, Rose had felt pain a thousand times before and had been poofed hundreds of times. It was never something that she had tried to experience but she had never been afraid of it, it would take a lot to shatter her and pain couldn't kill her.

But humans, organics, pain could cripple them, could ruin them, could kill them. She had once watched as a group of Emeralds taking apart a human once, to see how it functioned.. It had been...disquieting, watching how it had squirmed when it had been strapped down to the operating table, how it had made these high pitched sounds that all organics in pain made when the laser had cut in to it's limbs and it's fluids had spluttered out.

It had been disgusting.

But she wasn't sure what she had been disgusted about.

It was after that she had realised how fragile they actually were, none of them could stand against the might of Homeworld, they broke so easily and withered with time and sickness and died, for a gem death was an unfortunate accident that happened during battle or an accident with some malfunctioning equipment or they had broken too sacred a law.

For Gems, if you played by the rules and were careful then death could be avoided.

But if you were Human, death was a certainty.

And despite that, despite knowing that she and her soldiers could rip them apart without truly expending any effort to do so they still stood up against them, they still tried to fight as best as they could. Rose could not deny it, they had her earned her respect for that if nothing else.

And with that respect, had come some curiosity. Perhaps that had been the start of her downfall, when she had started to think about the locals when she wasn't on duty and was just sitting, writing reports or talking to one lieutenant or another.

She had started to look up the locations of other known settlements, the gems in charge of intel had simply assumed that she wanted more information to adjust her strategies on how to deal with the humans so that she could be done with them far more quickly.

Rose hadn't seen the need to correct her and the information had been handed over to her with an apology for keeping her waiting. Most of the largest settlements around her Diamond's stronghold had long ago been cleared out, as well as those closest to it but there were some settlements that were deemed as being so small and so far away that it had been deemed a waste of time to wipe them out and thus they had been left as they were.

The closest was one that at full speed she could reach in just under half a day, it was a small settlement nestled in the mountain range opposite the one that her Diamond's palace was anchored too, a small lake at the side of it. Every time that Rose had a period off duty, she would indulge in her curiosity and watch as the humans went about their daily routine.

They were creatures of pattern, it occurred to her. They weren't that different in that way, they would rise shortly after the sun rose, and she couldn't deny that she was surprised by the lack of efficiency but then she remembered that in one of the Emerald's reports that she had read that these humans needed an eight hour rest cycle in order to function normally and they could die if they did not get enough.

Some of the humans, mostly of the larger variety but a few smaller ones as well would go with them as well, would get on to these small wooden vessels and she would watch as they cast lines tied to the end of long wooden sticks into the lake and then after a few minutes they would pull their rods back and at the end of sum of them would be tiny aquatic animals which she had to assume that they ingested, the Emerald's report had mentioned that needed to ingest certain organic material to keep them functional as well.

It was a boring experience and for a time she had thought about abandoning it, it was literally just watching them coming out of their little dwellings, getting in their little boats and then watching as they came back to huddle in their little dwellings against the coldness of the night.

But then, on the day that she expected that this would be the last time that she would be coming to observe the humans, one of the miniature humans fell into the lake and there had been a sense of panic, many of the humans had been running around, making noises that she couldn't understand as some tried to get the mini human out of the lake.

They managed to bring the mini human back on the shore but it seemed even smaller than it had done before and Rose had to wonder if humans began to shrink after they had been exposed to water for too long. The human who had carried it out of the lake placed it down on the lake shore, and as soon as that human had done so another human came running out of the dwelling.

This one was taller and thinner than most of them and once it knelt down next to the mini human did it open it's mouth and a horrible wail filled the air as it wrapped it's long arms around the miniature and held it close to it's chest. Then it made terrible sense to her, she knew that these humans reproduced to make miniatures of themselves.

She watched them for a time, the taller one snarled at any of them that dared to come close for a time but as the sky began to darken and Rose detected a sheer drop in temperature two of the burlier humans cane up and sized hold of slimmer human's arms and dragged it kicking and screaming away from the miniature.

For a while the body of the mini human had simply been left where it laid and Rose had wondered if the humans had forgotten about or were going to leave it out for food but after time three of the broader ones came back and began to dig a hole, burying it in the dirt.

Once the deed was done all of them returned to their own dwellings and the only sign that something had happened was that now a tiny mound of dirt was present on the ground. Rose couldn't get it out of her head to go and take a closer look, she had leapt from her hiding place and gently floated down to the little settlement.

She had knelt next to the mound of dirt and had gently placed her hand on top of it, she had expected then and there to fully understand why that human had grieved so terribly. It had lost a mini human yes but it could just make another one, surely. She had decided then and there that she would continue you to watch, just till she understood why that human had look so destroyed.

If any of the gems back in Pink Diamond's stronghold wondered where she had been going then they were wise enough not to say anything, she was a Rose Quartz and the general of all the forces on Earth, second in authority only to Pink Diamond herself. No one would dare question her and Pink did not care where she was so long as she was present when on duty and wasn't too slow in getting back when she was called for.

And so she had continued to keep watch on the humans, specifically the creator of the mini human that had died. The problem there was that most of the time the human spent most of it's time inside it's dwelling but sometimes Rose could hear it making noises, similar to the ones it made when it saw that it's mini human had ceased to function.

One night however, when it was near to the time that Rose needed to be getting back to the stronghold, she noticed that the human had come out of it's dwelling and knelt down next to the mound. Rose had known to always seize the most opportune marmot since she had erupted from the earth and so with a leap she floated down behind one of the dwellings and slowly walked towards to the human.

Even when Rose was standing right next to the mound the human did not seem to notice her, she knelt in front of it but it was still gazing down at the mound with the skin around it's eyes red with irritation and wetness present in her eyes. "Hello." She had greeted it softly.

Even though Rose has said it as quietly and gently as she could it had still made the human fall backwards into the dirt and it opened it's mouth to scream but before it could make any noise Rose had surged forward and had clamp her hand over her mouth, it wasn't that she had been afraid of getting caught, at most there could have only been around thirty people in the small settlement and at least of half that were children and they didn't seem to have any weapons or suits of metal and even if they did she had been able to fight of armies of these creatures by herself.

But she had not come there looking for a fight. After a while the human had calmed and Rose had assured it that she wasn't going to hurt it, not as though that had been easy as there had been something of a communication gap between them, the human could not understand Rose and Rose could not understand the human.

It had taken some time but they eventually managed to reach the conclusion that Rose wasn't going to hurt the human and the human wasn't going to scream for help. They had sat on either side of the mound and the human had pointed at it and then at herself, at her stomach and Rose had tried her best to explain that she knew.

Rose herself had then pointed at the mound, had pointed at her eyes and then had tried to express confusion. The human had looked at her like she had said something completely stupid, she opened her mouth to say something but then Rose had noticed that it was time for her to be getting back.

Before she could even take a single step however a tiny hand came up to curl around her wrist and Rose got the sense that the human was asking for her to come back, it was hard but Rose had tried to get through to it that she was going to come back as soon as she could.

She had managed to make it back to the stronghold three minutes before she was to be due on duty, when she presented herself to her diamond Rose had bowed and asked what service she might provide her with. Her Diamond's Pearl had come forward with a with a data map projecting from the gemstone on her forehead, the settlement that she had just been too was marked and blinking red and that only mean one thing.

Total sanitation of the area.

She opened her mouth and had wanted to point out that the humans were so far away from anything important and they weren't in any serious numbers to be anything that even resembled being a threat to them but she didn't say any of that, she had simply bent her knees and swore to her Diamond that her will would be done.

She had been terrified to say anything else.

She had gathered her guards and had ordered them to destroy the settlement, she found that she could not make herself to go with them. When they had come back and informed her that the settlement had been destroyed she had congratulated them on a job well done and had walked away.

And that was the moment that Rose Quartz decided to rebel.

"Rose. Are you okay, you aren't saying a lot?" Rose looked down at Ruby and tried to give her what she hoped was a reassuring smile but Ruby was smarter and more perceptive than most other Rubies and frowned heavily. "There's something on your mind, don't try and deny it."

"Of course there's something on her mind, it's Pink Diamond's Pearl isn't it?" Bismuth said with that infuriating grin of hers that Rose both loved and wanted to punch off of her face. "Got to admit Rose, I always knew that you liked playing with fire but I didn't realise you liked dancing with it as well."

"Bismuth. Be quiet." Rose said as she tried not to think of a Pearl with long limbs and graceful movements and a nervous smile on her face when she had accept the delicate sword from her hand. She had only been trying to be kind, that was all and that was the end of it. "We have more important things to be worrying about right now."

"Yes, I agree we do. So can we please hurry up." Ruby hissed as she spun around, she may have been smarter than most Rubies but she was also extremely paranoid. "If anyone finds out what we are up to, do you know what they'll do to us? Shattering is the best thing that could happen to us."

"Yes, and the best way to avoid that is to look like you're going to jump at every shadow and loud noise, that does not look suspicious at all." Bismuth said while rolling her eyes as Ruby glared at her. "We know all the risks Ruby, I wouldn't be here if I didn't now just calm down."

Ruby looked as though she was about to start fuming but after a while she simply hummed and crossed her arms as she marched on ahead of them, clearly wanting to get there as soon as possible. Bismuth rolled her shoulders with a grin and followed after Ruby, matching her pace without much trying do to her long legs.

They eventually stopped in the middle of the corridor, Bismuth stood in front of Ruby and Rose stood behind her as the small red gem knocked on the featureless wall, a seam appeared in the wall and widened so that all of them could easily fit through. Once all of them were inside the opening disappeared and Rose stepped forward, taking care to not lose her footing in the tangled mess of wires and half broken devices. "Hello Peridot."

A loud shriek and a crash was her answer as the tiny green gem fell from the roof, Rose looked up to see what looked like a harness hanging from the roof and a hole that show sparking wires and tubs of flowing coolant. Peridot jumped to her feet and stared down at her gem with wide eyes, holding her hand up to try and get some better light on to it. "Did I fall on to it. is it cracked? General Quartz, would you mind terribly crying a couple of tears on to it?"

Rose was thankfully spared from having to try and hide her laughter when Ruby came forward and placed her hands on to the Peridot's shoulders. "Dotty. You're fine, calm down. Now, do you have what we need?"

The Peridot still looked nervous but she stepped back from Ruby and began to dig into a large pile of junk, muttering under her breath as she did so. She eventually remerged with an oval shaped object in her hands, it took Rose a moment but she finally recognise what it was. "That's a Pearl's gemstone."

"It was." Peridot admitted with a heavy frown as her stubby fingers brush gently over the stone. "The Pearl was...defective, her personality erased and her hard light form destroyed. A total wipe, the gem is all that's left. It was going to be harvested, but I managed to salvage it. There's no change of bringing that Pearl back but the gem itself makes for an adequate storage device."

Rose's frown deepened, even though she did not doubt that Peridot was right and there was no chance of the Pearl being recovered that still did not make it an easier thought to bare. She pondered briefly if something like this happened to Pink's Pearl and then she decided that she did not want to think about it. "So, it's in there."

Peridot nodded violently as she clutched the gem. "The program in here will disable the defences of the stronghold, but I don't know how long it will last. The other Peridots aren't stupid, they will be able to fix what I've done before too long."

"It doesn't matter, so long as they stay down long enough for all of us to get out of here then that is all we need." Rose declared as the other three gems turned to look at her.

"So...we are seriously going to do this?" Bismuth asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Rose glanced around at all three of them, at Peridot who looked like she was going to have a breakdown and crack the gem with how strongly she was clasping on to it, at Ruby who was rubbing at the gem under her chin and gazing up at her, waiting for her command, and at Bismuth who was meeting her eyes evenly.

"Yes, yes we are."

End of Chapter Three.

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